Tired Hands (January 2018)

Glad you think so. Most crowlers are top filled (which causes extra oxygen to be dissolved in the beer). Then, most places carry the can from the taps to the crowler machine. Extra time to sealing and harder to top without losing liquid (thus extra air space in the can). Granted if a place does it perfectly (with CO2 purge of the empty can) without having to manually move the can to the machine, then the crowler can last as long as a growler.

Bottom line is that it is much easier (and faster) for a typical growler to be sealed properly (assuming that they seal on foam or in TH case on liquid to the brim) than most crowler setups from tap to machine. The problem is that crowlers give you the false expectations that they last longer than growlers (they are not cans from a canning line). They do not. Both should be consumed as quickly as possible to avoid degradation of the beer. At least when I see a glass growler in my fridge, I know that I should drink them as quickly as possible. Unless, it is a counter-pressure filled growler, which is the best option and doesn't exist for crowlers.

 

The craziest thing about the bourbon only void is that is lasted a long time after the initial release. I want to say it was on for a few weeks

 

Yes, the crowler (or growler for that matter) should be filled from the bottom, which I realize a lot of places don't do (for either).

For what it's worth, I took part in a little experiment that took place at a local brewery where we filled a 32 oz swing top growler, 32 oz crowler, and then a week later pulled them out at the brewery to compare them to not only each other, but also fresh from the tap. Everyone agreed the growler had lost all or most carbonation, and the difference in crowler vs fresh tap were barely discernible. Both growler and crowler were purged and filled from bottom up.

I think the biggest problem with growlers is due to the smaller mouth they are very seldom filled to the very top. The wide mouth of the crowler makes it easier to fill to the top - but to your point hopefully they aren't walking it a long distance to the machine and losing liquid.

 

You are correct. I grabbed a growler of it at least two weeks after it was released - I was shocked that it was still available.

 

They were quite insistent that it was going to be around for several days after release. I got it a couple days later, in and out, no fuss, no muss. People that waited for hours were totally wasting their time, and they were informed thusly.

At that point, why not just do a canning run and sell them 1 or 2 cans at a time over the bar? I mean, if there is real demand for these things I guess it makes sense, but I dunno.

 

They have not growlered any milkshake beer for quite some time now. The last one I remember growlering was the coconut double, which was a long time ago.

 

They did growlers of the orange creamsicle shake a few months back. I want to say they did growlers both times they had it on, once at the cafe, and once at the ferm.

 

Usually they growler at the cafe only for milkshakes or if it isn’t a can release shake

 

Fills are also determined upon batch size.

 

Batch size and whether they want it to last on tap for more than a couple of days.

If it's a beer that will put extra asses in the seats, it's worth having around for a while.

 

whenever a new beer goes on tap and they post it to their Instagram feed they'll mention if it's a no go for growlers, this way you aren't surprised... fwiw

 

Any potential for a release tomorrow?

 

Well tomorrow aside, looks like there's a magnum release today.

 

Bottle sounds awesome, but that is way too much beer....

 

Yep my first and only visit to TH back in July. I got 2 growlers (albeit expensive) of orange creamsicle at the ferm while eating lunch.

 

Official announcement on the crowlers

 

Anyone happen to crack open a Burden of Gratitude within the last day or so? I have 2 left and cracked one open last night and wow - what in the world happened? This beer on tap, and in the first cans I opened 2 Days after release were incredible. The beer I poured from that can last night was plainly disgusting. The color was a bit darker, and the taste went from a thick hoppy DIPA to an overly bitter, thin sweet mess. I couldn’t even finish my pour, it was that bad. A buddy of mine who got cans at the same time I did also noticed the same thing when he opened his last can last night. What the hell?!!

 

Wow, my experience is the complete opposite. Just had one this afternoon and it was amazing, better than draft.